Project managed bathroom, en suite & downstairs loo installations

Custom CORIAN® Alcove Shelving

Introduction
Sometimes when installing a bathroom, we add an alcove or recess to add a little bit of much needed storage space such as these:

Narrow alcove

In this particular bathroom installation we chose to split a bathroom into a bathroom and an en suite) and block up a window (to suit the new layout).
We used this as an opportunity to design & install a tall, and slim alcove over the bath (where part of the window reveal used to be)….

However, this tall and slim alcove necessitated the addition of shelves to maximise the storage space available.

We chose to use CORIAN® (rather than tiles or glass) for a couple of reasons:
• Glass tends to watermark quickly and only toughened glass would be suitable for this installation, which would have been expensive to buy in the thickness we required.
• The glass would have had to be supported by surface pegs rather than finishing it ‘into the tiles’ (as we have done below) and this not have looked great due to the transparency of the glass.
• If we had used wall tiles for the shelves themselves you would have seen an unglazed front edge & underside (as ceramic tiles are glazed only on the front face.)
• The wall tiles were also thin and not as strong as the thicker CORIAN® alternative, therfore more liable to break.
• On the flip side, we could match the CORIAN® to the wall tiles in terms of colour and finish.
• CORIAN® is a solid surface, so all visible edges were polished to a high finish.
• We could tile the shelves into position, negating the need for any pegs or other means of support that could rust or ruin the aesthetic.
• Using CORIAN® enabled us to install a fully waterproof, strong & hygenic material that would not rot, discolour or warp.

CORIAN®

CORIAN® is a manufactured solid surface material produced by Dupont.
It is made of a blend of minerals and acrylics and manufactured in solid sheets that can be cut and thermoformed into almost any shape, and is mostly used for high end kitchen worktops and undermounted sinks.
CORIAN® comes in many different colours, including solid and patterned options, which enabled us to match it to these matt white ceramic wall tiles in this instance.
CORIAN® can be repaired or polished should any damage occur because it is a softer material than granite or quartz.

CORIAN® bathroom shelving installation

To reduce the need for any pegs or other means of support for the shelves, we chose to tile the CORIAN® shelves into the tiled recess directly.
This meant that they would be a permanently fixed feature.

Once the window was blocked up and the dividing wall and alcove built and boarded, shower pipework was run in the wall before it was bonded up level for tiling.

Once the plaster had dried out, wall tiling was carried out.
PS Tanking is heavily recommended.
The tile layout was carefully worked out to coincide with the shelf positioning (on the horizontal grout lines)

Tiling continued and metal chrome tile trims were added to the edges of the reveal.

The 1st CORIAN shelf (custom cut to the size required) was installed by placing it on the top edge of the tiles on either side of the reveal, and gluing it into position with tile adhesive.

PS Due to the short span of the reveal (approx 18cm) we chose not to support the shelf on the back edge so we tiled this surface 1st.

We then added the wall tiles above this shelf before adding the next shelf, and working our way upwards to the top of the alcove.
PS Notice in the picture above how a wall tile has been shown instead of a piece of CORIAN® to show how the exposed unglazed edge would look.

Eventually, all of the tiling / shelves were done and the area was ready to be grouted…

After grouting, the final step was to seal all of the joints with a colour matched sanitary silicone sealant, and fit the shower etc!

The final result is a seamless finish with many practical applications.